


If You're A Bird, I'm A Bird

by reddhede



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: F/M, Fpreg, Happy Ending, Harry helps, Musician Harry, a flash of angry Harry, but hey babies bring people together, especially when one of those people is Harry Styles, graphic birth, long labor, mentions of past rape/non-con, overly kind Harry, probably unwarranted fluff, seriously they fall in love in like a day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-16
Updated: 2019-02-16
Packaged: 2019-10-29 11:52:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17807507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reddhede/pseuds/reddhede
Summary: When Harry decides to stay at the office for a late night music writing session, he finds more than just his next hit single.Or, the one where Harry is too nice and accidentally ends up filling the role of labor coach for a woman he just met.





	If You're A Bird, I'm A Bird

**Author's Note:**

> Soooo there are about half a dozen other stories I should be working on, but this little one-shot basically wrote itself in my head the other day and I thought it was pretty cute. So, if you enjoyed it too, be sure to give it some love :)

**7:56pm**  
  
The business portion of the day was done - finally - and Harry was free to do as he pleased. And nothing pleased Harry more than music.  
  
He could spend unbroken hours at it - by himself or with others, with a full orchestra or simply a pen and paper and his imagination. It didn’t matter the circumstance; it was as essential to him as breathing.  
  
And being stuck in meetings all day felt like a slow and painful form of suffocation.  
  
So instead of going home and having a glass of wine, maybe lighting a nice scented candle, he chose to remain in the building - heading toward the studios, though, far away from the stuffy board rooms.  
  
That’s when he saw her.  
  
She wasn’t the type of girl he would normally notice, if he was being honest. Not because she wasn’t pretty, because she was, but because she was one of those assistants that was so skilled at fading into the background and doing what they’re told without being noticed. He’d seen the type before, and it usually resulted from having a boss that was a huge dick.  
  
In the music industry, it was not uncommon.  
  
The only reason he noticed her now was simply the fact she was even still here - often only the nervous interns were taken advantage of and forced to work late into the evening. Even now, her presence was professional and unassuming in a way that she would catch your attention only if you were already looking for someone to assist you.  Which was exactly how some execs liked their employees.  
  
What really gave him pause, though, was the very prominent bump protruding beneath her blazer. It was well hidden - easily missed if she was sitting or leaning a certain way. But at the moment she was standing and arching her back out, no doubt trying to stretch out the muscles that were working overtime to keep her upright with the bowling ball strapped to her middle.  
  
It would have been a cute gesture if she weren’t wincing and rubbing soothing circles into the lower curve of her belly.  
  
His feet were moving faster than his brain, and he ended up standing in front of her with a blank look on his face before realizing that he didn’t actually have anything to say to her.  
  
Upon his approach, she straightened instantly and put on a practiced, if now slightly exasperated, smile. “What can I do for you, Mr. Styles?”  
  
“You- do we know each other?” He glanced at the nameplate on her desk - Maya Cooper.  Nope, did not ring any bells.  
  
“Mr. Styles?” she prompted again. She quirked an eyebrow at him and- oh yeah. Sometimes he forgot that people he’d never met knew who he was even if he didn’t know them.  
  
“Right. No, I’m- no. Sorry to bother you,” he finished awkwardly before removing himself from her personal space.  
  
She cocked her head curiously at his retreat, but didn’t say anything. Artists and musicians tended to be slightly on the eccentric side, she’d found, so she didn’t read too much into it.  
  
Though he intended to allow his head to fill with pieces of melodies and poetic words that would begin to architect a new song, he couldn’t force creativity. And his wild, unfettered thoughts inevitably fell back on the woman he’d left back in the corporate part of the building.  
  
There was something about Maya - a complex aura surrounding her that he couldn’t quite put a name to. Like the mask of professionalism she wore was hiding something soft and fragile underneath.  
  
He was fascinated by it.  
  
  
**10:47pm**  
  
Hours had ticked by now. Surely Maya was gone. But Harry was also starting to get hungry, and his car was still in the other garage, so he might as well walk back the way he’d come to get it, right? Right.  
  
He cast a sideway glance in the general direction of her desk as he passed, not expecting to see anything and was therefore surprised to find a swath of soft light emanating from a lamp on one of the desks.  
  
Her desk.  
  
“It’s late,” he blurted out tactlessly from behind her.  
  
She spun a half-circle in her rolling chair and peered up at him. “What gave it away - the moonlight coming through the windows or the fact that we appear to be the only two still here?”  
  
She asked so matter-of-factly that it took him an extra second to realize it was a joke. “Umm, both?” Her eyes kept flicking back to her computer, as if anxious to get back to whatever she was working on. “It’s late,” he reiterated. “You should go home. Let the little one get some rest.” He nodded to her protruding middle.  
  
A hand automatically landed on the crest of her stomach. “Don’t think the little one has any intention of resting anytime soon,” Maya said, another wince scrunching up the features of her face. “It’s just as well. Friday is my last day for a while and Mr. Caldwell is helpless without me, so I’m getting as much done as I can before then.”  
  
Harry frowned. He’d only spoken to the guy a handful of times. But those few interactions did not leave the best impression of her boss in his mind.  
  
“Is there anything I can do? To make this go faster for you?” Harry wasn’t sure what kept compelling him to reach out to her, but something in the way she acted and spoke triggered in him a deeply seated instinct to protect.  
  
She cocked her head at him - a gesture he recognized from before, which had him wondering what it was about his actions that kept making her do it. “You want to print out documents and file paperwork and assemble corporate materials?”  
  
He smirked. “Not really, but I don’t think you particularly do either.”  
  
She pursed her lips in thought. “Fair enough. But I don’t think I’d be able to afford your subcontracting fee.”  
  
Ignoring the lighthearted jab about his wealth, Harry petulently snatched a paper off the desk and shoved it into one of the open drawers, giving her a pointed stare.  
  
“That one goes in this drawer,” she said, somewhere between amused and irritated, and pointed to the cabinet to the left of the one he had chosen to make his point with.  
  
Before he could defend himself - clearly the drawer he’d chosen made more sense somehow - Maya drew in a deep breath and started smoothing the same circles into the walls of her abdomen just like he’d seen her do earlier. “Are you alright?”  
  
She breathed out slowly for a few more seconds before her hands stilled and she answered him. “Yeah. Just... things must be getting tight in there.”  
  
He kept a close eye on her after that, noticing when she paused or closed her eyes or her breathing deepened. After it happened a few more times, he asked again if she was okay, and she explained that she’d been having these practice contractions for weeks now and it was nothing to worry about.  
  
Well, if she wasn’t worried then he wouldn’t be.  
  
Probably.  
  
Maybe.  
  
  
**11:35pm**  
  
It was all of 10 minutes of Harry completely destroying Maya’s immaculate organizational system before she banished him from ‘helping’. Quite unwilling to leave her all alone, though, he resigned himself to pretending to write on a nearby couch.  
  
He had been keeping his distance, respecting her space, until he heard a gasp, followed quickly by a string of whispered curses. “What happened?” he asked, once again crowding up behind her in her little cubicle. She flushed and adjusted the hem of her jacket, but it did little to distract from the slowly growing wet spot on her skirt. “Are you having the baby?”  
  
“No. I can’t be. My maternity leave doesn’t start til next week.”  
  
“Pretty sure that’s not how it works.” Babies decided their own deadlines. “You need to get to the hospital.”  
  
“No.” It was quick, definitive, and the slightest bit defensive. “Even if I’m actually in labor, it’s still very early on. I can’t- there are things I need to finish here first.”  
  
“Your water just broke.”  
  
“So?”  
  
He was starting to think he had mistaken this girl as mysterious when in fact she was just plain crazy. “What could possibly be so important that you would put the health and safety of you and your child at risk for it?” He hadn’t meant for the words to sound so harsh, and guilt washed over him when her voice turned quiet, reserved.  
  
“I was supposed to have until Friday.”  
  
It was then that Harry realized his mistake. It wasn’t that she wanted to stay at the office – it was that she _didn’t_ want to go to the hospital.  
  
Maya was scared.  
  
But then a contraction gripped her, stronger than the previous ones now without the cushion of an amniotic sac, and she finally admitted that she maybe she should call a cab.  
  
“A cab? Why would you need a cab?”  
  
“Well I don’t particularly trust myself to drive in my current state.”  
  
That wasn’t what he meant, and they both knew it. “Isn’t there someone you can call to pick you up?”  
  
“It’s late.”  
  
“I’m sure-“  
  
“There’s no one, Harry,” she barked, cutting him off.  
  
He was sure there was more to this story, but decided to table the issue for now. There were more urgent things to take care of. “I can take you. If- if you want.” She looked like she wanted to protest, but he wouldn’t take no for an answer. “It’s the least I can do for messing up your papers and hovering around all night while you were trying to work.”  
  
“You don’t have to do that,” she answered meekly.  
  
“My mother would disown me if she found out I let a woman - a pregnant and laboring woman, at that - fend for herself in the middle of the night alone. And I love my mum very much - you’d be doing me a favor.” He smiled, normally toning it down for the effect it tended to have on on the female population, but unleashed the full force of its influence over her.  
  
She accepted.  
  
Once in the car and on the road, he finally brought up the subject he’d chosen to let alone back in the office. “Are you sure there’s no one you want to call?” She was currently breathing through another contraction, and so simply shook her head in response. “Mum, maybe?”  
  
“Mom died when I was young,” she explained breathlessly.  
  
A pang of guilt shot through him, but he was determined to find someone that would look after her once they got to the emergency room. “Alright, dad then?”  
  
Another shake of the head. “He’s- we’re not close. I’ve got a sister, but she’s across the country with little ones of her own. I can’t ask her to just hop on a flight for who knows how long.”  
  
“...partner?” Honestly, Harry wasn’t prying for information. But he was concerned about the idea of just leaving the poor girl by herself through this whole thing. She went quiet for a moment, shifting in her seat and uncomfortable for reasons that obviously went beyond the physical. “Sorry. You don’t have to answer that.”  
  
She gave him a pained smile. “No, it’s... just. You don’t want to hear about my sob story.”  
  
“I don’t mind hearing it if you don’t mind telling it.” Harry braced himself for some sort of tragedy - maybe her boyfriend had died or walked out on her.  
  
The truth was much worse.  
  
“I was, um, assaulted. Sexually.” The silence hung heavy in the air, and though Maya didn’t like being this vulnerable with someone she didn’t know very well, she found herself desperate to fill it. “It was stupid. I was being reckless; didn’t see when the guy I’d been dancing with slipped something into my drink.” She sunk back in her seat as if she could disappear into it. “I honestly don’t remember much after that.”  
  
Harry recognized the undertones of shame in her account, and it broke his heart. “Hey, you are not responsible for what he did to you. _He_ attacked _you_ ; you could have already been passed out naked in front of him and he still would have had no right to do what he did.” The words were terse, angry, and he desperately hoped that she didn’t think it was directed at her. But he had grown up in a household of women; he knew the shit that they blamed themselves for, and he was tired of society only reinforcing the idea.  
  
“I know. Well, I know now. At the time, when I woke up the next morning sore and-“ Maya didn’t want to go too much into detail about the horrific state she’d found herself in, but it was enough for her roommate to demand a trip to the hospital. “They patched me up and took evidence samples, but... I didn’t even know the guy’s name. There was no way they’d be able to find him. So there was no one there to blame but myself.”  
  
Harry couldn’t fathom the pain of being so thoroughly violated and then having no closure on the matter, no justice. “I’m- I’m so sorry.” It probably didn’t mean much, considering, but he was.  
  
She shrugged. “It- it messed with my head for a while. But when I found out I was pregnant, I couldn’t- I had to do something. I couldn’t take care of a new life when I could barely even take care of myself.” There were many days she couldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep; it was a miracle that her child had even survived those first few tenuous months. “I couldn’t afford much, but I went to a few therapy sessions. Sometimes I find myself slipping back into old habits, but... it got easier as time went on. When I got my first ultrasound. When I started to feel her moving around in there. It was- well, it gave me back a little piece of myself.”  
  
Harry was in awe of her strength, but didn’t want to push her to talk more about the trauma. “So, you’re having a little girl?”  
  
“Yeah,” she said, a genuine smile on her face this time. “I know you’re not supposed to want one or the other, but I’m glad it’s a girl.”  Mostly because the less this kid was like its father the better. “I hope she looks like me.”  
  
Harry hoped that for her too.  
  
  
**12:06am**  
  
When Harry pulled up to the main entrance of the hospital, he was hesitant to let Maya out of his sight. Again he asked if there’s someone he could call.  
  
“A friend? A roommate?” Anyone that could be there for her, really. He’d never actually witnessed childbirth, but he got the impression it wasn’t easy and necessitated a good support system.  
  
“I’ll be alright. The doctors and nurses know when they’re doing. Even if I don’t.” She opened the door and lingered for a moment before hauling herself up and out of the car. “Wish me luck,” she said on a breathless laugh, giving away the nervousness simmering just beneath her forced composure.  
  
As soon as Maya was on her feet, she had to bend over, one hand braced against the warm metal of the car and the other wrapped instinctively around her middle.  
  
Unsure whether he’d be overstepping, but unable to sit idly by, Harry threw open his own door and raced around to her side. He put a supportive hand at the small of her back and reminded her to breathe nice and slow.  
  
The sudden closeness was unexpected, but his soft touch and deep, calming voice were comforts she didn’t know she needed.  
  
When the contraction was over, the reality of the situation began to sink in. It was still so early on and she already wasn’t able to manage the pain by herself. How? How was she going to do this?  
  
She hadn’t realized that there were tears streaming down her face until that same deep, calming voice spoke to her with a new edge to it. “Hey, hey it’s alright. It’s gonna be alright.” He gently pulled her wrist away from his car and gave her hand a little squeeze. “You can do this. It’s gonna be fine.”  
  
She nodded, though more out of reflex than agreement. “No going back now, I guess.”  
  
Harry didn’t know her very well, but he knew enough that he was sure she’d never ask for what he was about to offer. She needed it, he thought, but she probably believed she didn’t deserve it.  
  
She did.  
  
“I can stay. If you want.” She looked at him like he was some sort of mythical creature, with an endearing mix of awe and disbelief and confusion. “With you,” he clarified when she didn’t answer.  
  
“I don’t- I can’t ask you to do that.” Though it looked like she very much wanted to.  
  
“You didn’t ask. I offered.” He reached out and put a hand on her shoulder. “And I meant it.” Maya had been dealt a crappy hand, and yeah it might be a little awkward, but it was fate that they both ended up at the same place at the same time tonight. The universe owed her at least this much.  
  
She looked up to the sky and tried again to politely decline his offer. “I’m sure Harry Styles has better things to do than sit around all day getting yelled at by a crazy person.”  
  
“Doesn’t sound all that different from a normal Thursday, if I’m honest,” he countered. She laughed, and it made him smile in response - he liked being able to make her laugh even in moments like this. “I promise I won’t do anything you don’t want me to.” He felt the need to emphasize this point, given her past, and waited for her to acknowledge his words before continuing. “But if you ever do need someone - to squeeze their hand or rub your back, or even yell at til you’re blue in the face,” he added with a smirk, “I can also promise not to leave you for as long as you want me there.”  
  
She searched his face for any sign of reservation or insincerity, but found none. “O-okay. If- only if you’re sure.” He smiled. “Like, _sure_ sure.” He nodded, unfazed. “Like, it’s probably going to get loud and messy and gross, and you’ve already done so much for me - you don’t owe me anything, seriously.”  
  
He stepped forward, close enough now that he could feel the heat radiating off her overworked body. “I know.”  
  
“And you can take it back anytime you want. I won’t be offended. I may even kick you out at some point or, like, throw something at your head,” she mused, thinking of all those dramatic birth scenes she’d always seen in movies.  
  
Her eyes took on a distant gaze as her mouth chased down the random train of thought, but his soft chuckle brought her back to the moment. “Noted. I will be on the lookout for eviction notices and random flying objects. Now, I am going to walk you inside to get started on the paperwork, come back out to park the car, and then, you are going to have a baby.”  
  
  
**1:32am**  
  
Harry had seen the spark of recognition in the eyes of some of the staff as they navigated through the labyrinth of medical wings in the large hospital, but they were trained well enough to know not to mention it.  
  
And now that they were settled into a room and the initial spike of adrenaline was wearing off, there was nothing to do but wait.  
  
It should have been awkward, being so exposed and vulnerable in the presence of someone Maya had really only heard on the radio. Alright, maybe she’d seen him on the big screen too.  
  
But despite how it _should_ have been, Harry’s presence never felt forced or intrusive.  
  
At first, Maya had to show him where to put his hands to ease the pressure on her back, how to support her weight when she leaned on him, and even when to just take a step back because she needed space to work through the pain on her own. But Harry had always had a way with people, and it wasn’t long before he started to pick up on these patterns.  
  
It felt doable to Maya now, this whole having a baby thing. Her contractions were still pretty far apart - far enough that they could still enjoy mocking the crappy infomercials that plagued most of the television channels at that time of morning.  
  
For once she was actually thankful that her slave-driving boss had unreasonable expectations; without them, she would be doing this alone right now.  
  
  
**3:59am**  
  
The end credits rolled on whatever predictable hallmark channel romcom had just finished playing. It was a nice distraction for Maya, even if Harry had fallen asleep about 10 minutes into it. She was pretty sure he’d already seen it anyway.  
  
She watched the steady rise and fall of his chest from his curled up position on the small couch by the window. It was easy to forget how young he was, having been forced into maturity by fate and fortune. Weaker men might have been broken, made angry or cynical by the weight of status and expectation.  
  
With Harry, it seemed to have the opposite effect. His natural empathy was only magnified by the pressure of success, and a sudden wave of guilt washed over her. Harry was kind to a fault and in her weakness, she had taken advantage.  
  
She was selfish enough to want him to stay, but she could at least let the boy sleep.  
  
  
**6:12am**  
  
The first few moments after waking were disorienting - Harry’s surroundings were unfamiliar, it was still dark outside, and someone very near him was breathing harshly.  
  
“Shit,” he muttered, snapping to attention as the last remnants of sleep were cleared from his mind. He stumbled to the other side of the bed, the direction Maya was facing, so that she could see him.  
  
“Harry,” she whined, half surprised and half relieved. He offered his hand, which she grabbed onto instantly as she panted and groaned through the remainder of a strong contraction. “Sorry I woke you. I tried-“. She winced, the aftershocks of pain still rippling through her midsection. “I was trying to be quiet.”  
  
He stared at her, replaying her words in his head but not quite believing he’d heard correctly. “You were- you-“  
  
“It’s been slow going. You didn’t miss much - I’m still only at three centimeters.”  
  
Shit. That wasn’t very many centimeters. “You should have woken me.”  
  
“It’ll be a while before things pick up.” Hopefully, anyway; the doctors had given her 24 hours after her water had broken to deliver naturally before the risk of infection necessitated a c-section. She really didn’t want to be knocked out and cut open. “You should sleep some more. While you still can,” she added with a wry, if exhausted, grin. “You’re already doing too much.”  
  
Harry shook his head, baffled by the depths of her strength. “And you’re too damn selfless.”  Maya blushed, but didn’t brush off the compliment as he’d expected. Progress, he supposed.  
  
“I’m serious. You must be exhausted.”  
  
“If I’m exhausted, what does that make you?”  
  
She fiddled with a loose thread on the hospital blanket that was tangled in her legs. “There’s no reason for both of us to suffer,” she finally mumbled.  
  
“Hey, I thought we were in this together. I thought we were a team.” He leaned in closer and tilted her chin up to look at him. “If you’re a bird, I’m a bird.”  
  
She narrowed her eyes. “Did you just quote The Notebook at me?”  
  
“Did you just admit to knowing it was a quote from The Notebook?” he countered.  
  
She snorted derisively, but a soft blush colored her cheeks. “Everyone knows The Notebook.”  
  
Maya shifted and rolled her hips in discomfort and again he felt helpless. “Is there anything I can get for you?” She wouldn’t meet his eyes. “I wouldn’t offer if I didn’t want to,” he said, answering the thoughts she wasn’t speaking.  
  
“I’m... a little thirsty,” she said hesitantly.  
  
“Well whaddaya know, me too!” She rolled her eyes at his attempt to placate her, but she was smiling. “The menu is a bit sparse around here, but how about you and me split an order of ice chips?” It was the only thing she could have anyway.  
  
“Thank you,” she said shyly.  
  
“Of course.” Anything to finally feel useful.  
  
  
  
**9:29am**  
  
Once the sun had come up, things started intensifying and Maya was having trouble keeping up normal conversation, even between contractions. The pressure in her pelvis was increasing, and she was pretty sure there was a foot lodged up somewhere in her kidney.  
  
In addition, there had been a shift change. The new nurse was inexperienced and the exam she performed was unnecessarily painful and drawn out.  
  
Though Maya didn’t see, afterwards Harry had gone to the doctor and quietly requested a different nurse for the next round.  
  
As the pain got worse, there was no yelling or screaming or crying, as she’d threatened to do in the parking lot.  
  
Her silence was almost worse.  
  
Harry knew Maya was suffering, could see it on her face and the tense contortions of her body. But she kept it all inside, refusing to let herself use him as an outlet for that frustration, to bear even a little bit of the burden with her.  
  
That did not, however, mean that the room was quiet.  
  
Her phone, which had been pinging periodically throughout the morning, was now ringing incessantly. She hadn’t yet answered - probably couldn’t without being waylaid by a contraction - but had sent off several text messages when she thought he wasn’t looking.  
  
Finally, Harry couldn’t stand it anymore. “Who keeps calling?” he asked, unable to keep the irritation out of his voice.  
  
“My boss,” Maya answered on a sigh.  
  
He balked at her before realizing she was serious. “He does know you’re a little busy right now, yeah?”  
  
The question was innocent enough, but it had her in tears. “I- yes, I told him. I told him that I tried to make through Friday. And when I knew I couldn’t, I told him I tried to do as much as I could. But he- fuck, it wasn’t enough. He needs me, Harry. He’s trying to land a big client today and I’m not there. Shit, I know I fucked up, but I can’t- he’s going to fire me!”  
  
For a moment, Harry was too dumbfounded to feel anything else. “That’s not going to happen.”  
  
Her sobs had quieted, but her cheeks were still moist as she smiled sadly. “He’s already basically told me as much.”  
  
“May I?” he asked, gaze flicking toward the neglected mobile device.  
  
“Um, sure.” She unlocked the phone and placed it in his palm.  
  
His eyes scanned through the vitriol that was her text history with the man. He picked a voicemail at random... and had to pull the receiver away from his ear it was so loud and, frankly, vulgar. He suspected the rest were very much the same.  
  
Now that the initial shock had passed, Harry was livid. It wasn’t an emotion he felt often, and the force of it scared him a little bit.  
  
This girl was amazing. She had been betrayed and brutalized in the worst possible way, and still she chose love over hate. It would have been so easy for her to blame the world for its indifference and unfairness, but instead she endured with a quiet strength.  
  
He would not let her blame herself for the actions of shitty people.  
  
The phone was still clutched in tightly in his hand when it went off again, eliciting another round of tears from the girl.  
  
This time, Harry answered it.  
  
“I don’t know who you think you are,” he began before the person on the other line had a chance to get a word in, “but I can bet you can guess who I am. I’ll give you a hint - I just completed a sold out world stadium tour for my first solo album.” There was a pause as Caldwell put the pieces into place. Harry continued before he could stutter out a response. “Now that I have your attention, let me be very clear. The girl you are so inconsiderately attempting to berate is doing something more difficult and more important than you will ever do in your entire life. And if this phone rings one more time, I will not hesitate to make a call of my own and have your ass thrown out and blacklisted.”  
  
He hung up without waiting for a response.  
  
The phone didn’t ring again.  
  
Maya didn’t quite know how to respond to what Harry had just done for her. So she made a joke. “So the notoriously kind Mr. Styles is actually a demanding diva - who knew?”  
  
Harry snorted. “The celebrity card does come in handy- _very_ occasionally.”  
  
“You didn’t have to do that.” He didn’t, in fact, have to do any of the things he was doing for her. She still wasn’t quite sure why he was.  
  
He shrugged. “You risked giving birth at your desk for the sake of your job. I’d say you deserve to keep it,” he explained simply. She very much suspected that, despite his threats, she would likely not be returning to work there; yet another thing to add to her pile of worries. As if echoing her thoughts, he added, “Though why you would waste your time working for such an asshole is beyond me.”  
  
“Don’t really have much choice, you know? Babies are expensive.” Hell, even this hospital visit was going to cost a fortune; luckily she still had health insurance. For the time being.  
  
Harry didn’t say it then - it wasn’t the right time - but he was fairly certain he could find a place for her on his team. What was the benefit of employing an entire staff if you couldn’t hire the ones you wanted?  
  
  
**12:05pm**  
  
Four centimeters. It had been over 12 hours and she was. Only. Four. Centimeters.  
  
If Harry was this frustrated by the news, he couldn’t imagine how Maya felt. It wasn’t until the nurse left, with a piteous look over her shoulder, that she wrapped her arms around Harry’s middle and let herself dissolve into a fit of sobs.  
  
“I can’t do this anymore,” she cried into the crook of his neck.  
  
“You know they could give you something. For the pain.” In fact, the nurse had just told them that they could call the anesthesiologist anytime now that she was in the early-middle stages of labor. Maya had rejected it earlier, but he was still a little surprised to see her shaking her head now.  
  
“I- we could try walking?” It came out as a question, as this would require his participation as well - she couldn’t keep herself upright by her own power for very long.  
  
Harry was just happy she’d finally asked him to _do_ something.  
  
  
**4:44pm**  
  
They had worn grooves into the floors of the hospital halls, pacing up and down, up and down, until even Harry’s feet were tired. Every time a contraction hit, Maya’s legs shook and he ended up holding up most of her body weight.  
  
Still, the motion was helping to move things along - her last exam revealed she was at a six - and the desperate desire to avoid a c-section was more powerful than her exhaustion.  
  
The contractions were only a couple minutes apart now, and wearing them both out to the point that they almost collapsed to the floor after the last one.  
  
They headed back to the room after that incident, resigned to remain there for the remainder of the birth. Something about that made Maya feel anxious, trapped. But having Harry there helped - he was her connection to the outside world - a world outside the pain and fear and weariness.  
  
Still too restless to just lie in the bed, Maya chose to sit on the stability ball, rolling her hips in small circles and groaning with the pressure it put on her pelvis as the baby moved down. She paused and hummed through contractions, bracing her hands on the bed and twisting the fabric of the thin hospital sheet into knots while Harry applied pressure to her lower back.  
  
They hadn’t spoken much since being back in the room, and so he was surprised when words started tumbling from her mouth.  
  
“You know, it’s funny. In an ironic kind of way. Because this is one thing I always said I never wanted.”  
  
“You never wanted kids?” This surprised him.  
  
She shook her head. “No. Well, not exactly. Just- not like this. I mean, obviously not in this _way_ , but also, like...” She struggled to find the right words to describe her thoughts. “I just never felt like I was born to be a mother, you know?” He didn’t, but let her continue anyway. “I was never the type of person who was like, ‘I’m going to have a baby with or without a significant other in my life.’”  
  
Harry tried to hide his smile - he was exactly that type of person. His life - and all the crazy shit that went with it - was not exactly conducive to fostering long-term relationships. He dated, but ultimately he always believed deep down that if he ever wanted his own family, he’d have to build it himself. He was young. He still had time. But he’d be lying if he said he hadn’t already considered things like surrogacy or adoption.  
  
It would be fairly easy for someone like him, and was probably one of the few perks to being THE Harry Styles.  
  
“And how do you feel about it now?” he asked tenderly, allowing her to open up with feeling judged.  
  
“I feel... like a completely different person. I mean, I remember thinking that, and I remember why I thought that. But... now that she’s here, she’s real, it’s like... it’s like the center of my whole universe shifted. I can’t imagine my future _without_ her in it.”  
  
A pang of jealousy shot through Harry heart at her words. Wistfulness was usually reserved for the sentimentality of the past, but he felt it now for a future that had not yet come to be. He really couldn’t wait to be a father.  
  
At the moment, though, he was happy enough to be able to play the part.  
  
  
**8:11pm**  
  
Maya’s tolerance for pain had shifted over the last 20 hours or so. She would give anything to go back to the contractions she’d been having that morning - contractions that, at the time, had seemed insufferable.  
  
She had a new definition of suffering now.  
  
“You sure you don’t want an epidural, sweetie?” the nurse asked when she checked her progress again - eight centimeters. Maya shook her head. “Won’t be an option for much longer.” She shook her head again, though more hesitantly this time. “Alright, then. I’ll be back in another hour or so to check on ya.”  
  
“Oh don’t look at me like that,” she huffed at Harry once the nurse was out of the room.  
  
“I guess I just don’t get why you keep wanting to do this without help. It’s okay to need help sometimes.” As evidenced by his continued presence by her side despite her insistence that could and probably do this alone.  
  
Maya knew that. She did. And part of her probably just craved the self-flagellation as a punishment for the careless actions that led her here. But also… a larger part of her just needed to do this. To know that she could do this - and that even the worst types of pain can have a purpose, can create something beautiful.  
  
Instead of this well-thought-out, if misguided, rationalization, what came out was a screech of, “I said I didn’t want to!”  
  
“I’m sorry, I know-“ Harry stuttered, taken aback by the sudden outburst. “I just thought... you might want-“  
  
“How the _fuck_ would you know what I want, Harry? God, you don’t even _know_ me. You don’t know anything about me.” That wasn’t exactly true, but she continued before he could say anything to the contrary. “What are you even doing here? Why are you _here_?”  
  
His heart was breaking for her - she didn’t understand how much she deserved to have someone take care of her. No, he hadn’t known her long, and was therefore probably a terrible excuse for a support partner in this... but there was nowhere else he’d rather be.  
  
Harry didn’t have time to list any of the numerous reasons he had chosen to stay by her side before she pitched forward with the force of another contraction, this one catching her by surprise and knocking the wind out of her. He attempted to comfort her, but she slapped his hands away.  
  
“Get out,” she ground out between gritted teeth.  
  
“What?”  
  
“I said get out. You promised me you would leave if I asked you to leave. So get out!”  
  
Harry was a little hurt by the request, but knew she didn’t mean it. She was just scared and anger was easier to hold onto than fear.  
  
He made a move toward her, but she flinched away. Despite the unreasonableness, there was no argument he could make against it - he did promise that, and she did just ask.  
  
“Okay. I’ll- I’ll go. I’ll leave. I-“ he cast a helpless glance at her glowering face. “Thank you for letting me be a part of this. I’m… sorry I couldn’t be what you needed.”  
  
As Harry turned to leave, he missed the way her hand automatically reached out after him before it was quickly snatched back, the way she had to bite her lip to keep his name from escaping.  
  
When Harry left the room, it was like every bit of hope and strength and comfort left with him. But this was for the best. She repeated this to herself over and over again as she sobbed into her pillow, willing herself to believe it, to accept it. He hadn’t known what he was asking, and Maya refused to pull him into the muck and mire that was her life.  
  
What she didn’t know what he was already there. With no intention of leaving.  
  
Harry had promised to leave the room, but he didn’t say he’d go further than that. And after grabbing a cup of coffee from down the hall, he camped out beside the door.  
  
  
**9:49pm**  
  
It was torture, having to listen to Maya’s distressed cries from around the corner without being able to go to her, to help. But, Harry supposed, he hadn’t really been all that useful anyway. Maybe she’d had it right in the first place - she would’ve been fine without him.  
  
The thought was banished quickly, though, when a few minutes later his name was tumbling desperately from her lips.  
  
“Harry! Harry, I’m sorry. God, I’m so sorry. Please- I didn’t mean it. I n-need you.”  
  
She had no idea where he was - hell, maybe he had gone home - and was having trouble getting the words out around the unintelligible groans her throat was producing on its own, and so was surprised when he raced through to door just moments later.  
  
“I’m here, I’m right here. Never left. It’s okay, just breathe.”  
  
He’d gotten out more words more quickly than she thought she’d ever heard him say, but there were much more pressing matters she was dealing with than poking fun at him.  
  
“Don’t wanna breathe. Wanna-nggh! Wanna push.” She alternated between heavy panting and holding her breath and releasing small grunts.  
  
“What? It’s- you’re at ten?” When had that happened?  
  
“Don’t know. Doesn’t matter. Gotta-“. She sucked in quick intake of breath and scrunched up her face.  
  
“Here, it’s okay. It’s okay.” He offered his hand and she clung to it with a grip that belied the amount of effort she’d already expended over the last day or so. “Just relax. Breathe,” he coached, using his free hand to brush back the hair that was sticking to her flushed face.  
  
“Harry,” she whimpered once she could breathe again.  
  
He reached behind her to press the call button hanging over the bedrail. “I know. But you’re doing so good. Working so hard for your baby girl.”  
  
She sniffed and rubbed a hand up and down the expanse of her abdomen, her mouth forming a small pout. “Hurts.”  
  
“Hey, Wonder Woman,” a nurse said, popping her head into the room. She knew Maya was on her third set of nurses since checking in, and truly was impressed with how well she was holding up. “You rang?”  
  
Nobody needed to answer as another contraction ripped its way through Maya’s body and she curled in on herself, bearing down with neither instruction nor permission.  
  
“Whoa, looks like the party’s finally getting started!” the nurse, Kelly, said as she moved to the end of the bed. Though Maya never unfurled, the monitor indicated that the contraction was over and Kelly put a hand on her knee. “Wanna lift your leg for me a bit so I can make sure we got a clear path here?”  
  
Maya didn’t want to roll over onto her back, and so simply kept her feet together and pulled her top leg back, opening up like a clam shell.  
  
“Looks like your body knows what it’s doing,” Kelly announced, a hand still buried deep inside Maya’s lady parts. “Ten centimeters, fully effaced. Time to have a baby!”  
  
  
  
**11:18pm**  
  
Maya had tried everything. She’d sat up, she’d laid down. She’d been on her side, on her back, on all fours. She had squatted and sat and strained for almost an hour and a half before finally admitting to herself that maybe she couldn’t do this.  
  
Though quickly approaching the 24-hour deadline they’d given her, the doctor didn’t seem concerned about her progress. “Baby’s stubborn, I’ll give you that. But she’s moving. I promise, she’s moving.”  
  
Maya was currently lying on her back - too tired to do much else - and broke down into gut-wrenching sobs when it was announced that they could finally, _finally_ see the head.  
  
The next push came with renewed vigor, but also a whole new previously unexperienced dimension of torture as her tissues strained and burned to accommodate a far greater girth than had ever tested them before.  
  
As the baby’s head played peek-a-boo against Dr. Langford’s hand for several contractions, Maya let out a growl of frustration. “I can’t do it like this!” She had no leverage, and no strength left to put her in a position to get any.  
  
“What do you need? How can I help?” Harry asked softly from his post on her right.  
  
Maya considered for a moment, waiting for the irrational anger to clear before she could think properly. “I need- I have to sit up.” It wasn’t the most effective position, but her legs were trembling even now and she knew there was no way they would stay under her.  
  
“Okay, we can do that. We can do that.”  
  
She smiled at his choice of pronoun, but it quickly turned into a grimace. “Harry!” she cried urgently as the next contraction started to radiate out from her core and across her whole body.  
  
“Come on, let’s get you up,” he said, more to himself than to her, as he used the hand that was still tethered to hers to pull her torso up and slip onto the bed behind her back. “Here, lean back against me, there you go,” he coaxed as she pressed into his chest.  
  
This time when she pushed, the head stayed right where it was. “Fuck! Fuckfuckfuckfuck,” she muttered in an endless stream as her internal muscles continued to force more of the head forward even after she relaxed her efforts.  
  
“Breathe now. Nice and slow. Let it stretch,” Dr. Langford said from between her legs.  
  
Maya let out a wet, strangled sound from the back of her throat as she attempted to override the instinct to just get this pain over with as quickly as possible. “Shitfuckow. Ow ow ow,” she reiterated, unable to resist pushing just a little bit. “It’s- fuck. _Ow_!”  
  
Maya gasped suddenly as she came to a full crown, slamming back into Harry as if attempting to flee the sensations overwhelming her body.  
  
“Easy, easy,” the doctor cautioned, holding Maya’s wild legs in place as she writhed and shook. “You’re okay. Just take a second and breathe.”  
  
Maya clutched at Harry’s thighs where they rested on either side of her, first digging her fingers into the flesh and then releasing her grip to pound them lightly on the surface as an alternative to giving into the all-consuming urge to push.  
  
“You’re doing so good. So amazing,” Harry praised, more easily heard now that his mouth was right by her ear.  
  
“She’s almost here,” Dr. Langford added, gently easing back the taught layer of sensitive skin over the baby’s forehead as Maya continued to pant, releasing punctuated, pained whines on each exhale.  
  
When the next contraction began in earnest, Maya gripped Harry’s hand harshly; seconds later, her body jerked a bit at the same time she threw her head back against his shoulder with a surprised yelp.  
  
“Heads out!” the doctor announced.  
  
“Oh my god,” Harry blurted out, unable to stop himself from catching a glimpse of the round, bloody mass sticking out from bellow her belly.  
  
It was the most magical round, bloody mass he’d ever seen in his whole life.  
  
“Just relax for a minute. Let her get into position for the shoulders.”  
  
Harry was in awe, and blurted our exactly what he was thinking. “You’re the most incredible person alive. This is the most amazing thing anyone’s ever done.”  
  
Maya wanted to point out that there were literally dozens of other women doing the exact same thing in this hospital at this moment, but what came out was a groan as she felt her half-born child twist and immediately begin ramming up against the inside of her opening.  
  
“Alright, give me one or two more big pushes and you’re gonna have yourself a baby! You ready, mom?” Dr. Langford asked with a smile.  
  
Of course, Maya knew what would come after the birth. Obviously. She knew in the logical sense. But now it was here. And no, she was very much not ready.  
  
Luckily, nurse Kelly had been around the block once or twice and recognized the look of panic that crossed her patient’s face. “Here, give me your hand.” She guided Maya’s hand down to the top of the baby’s head and held it there. “She’s right there. She’s ready.”  
  
“But I’m not,” Maya whispered, too softly for anyone but Harry to hear.  
  
He wasn’t sure what to say to her exactly, just that he needed to provide something of the comfort that he’d vowed to give. “I’m right here. You’re not alone. God, you’re so strong - she’s so lucky to have you as a mum.”  
  
Maya’s hand fell away as a new wave of pressure built up from another contraction. Her chin fell to her chest and she pushed out on her trembling knees in an attempt to keep them from snapping shut.  
  
“That’s it, that’s it, here she comes, here she comes,” Dr. Langford encouraged, gently tugging beneath the baby’s chin until the shoulders gave way and surged forward.  
  
Stars clouded Maya’s vision for a moment at the sudden intensity. When they cleared, she again reached down between her legs, not quite sure what she was doing but just that she was impatient to touch her child again. Her fingers slid around her daughter’s torso as one arm popped free, then the other. It was an odd sensation, feeling the baby half inside her while holding the other half in her hands, but some primal part of her preened at the active role she was instinctually taking in delivering her own child.  
  
“Oh. Oh. OH!” Maya exclaimed at increasingly higher frequencies as more and more of her daughter entered the world.  
  
“And there she is!” the doctor cheered, helping Maya’s hands guide the slippery, wailing infant up onto her chest. “11:39pm. Well done, mom!”  
  
“Oh-ho-ho,” Maya stuttered on a series of quick, hiccuping exhales. “Oh my baby, oh my sweet girl,” she managed to get out through a confusing and completely overwhelming mix of _laughcryloveprotect_.  
  
Harry was rendered well and truly speechless. He’d watched it happen with his own two eyes and still didn’t believe it. This little person... was just inside her. And now she was here. Shaking her little angry fists at the injustice of being removed from her safe, warm home.  
  
He hugged himself around Maya’s back, resting his chin on her shoulder. His cheek brushed up against hers, the twin tear tracks running down both of their faces mingling as they both gazed raptly at the wet, waxy, wriggling bundle in her arms.  
  
“Harry. Look what I made,” she whispered incredulously at the same time he reached under her arm to brush his knuckle against the bottom of her feet.  
  
“She’s beautiful.” His voice was thick with emotion and cracked on the word, and Maya tore her eyes away from her daughter’s face long enough to crane her neck back and look at him.  
  
“Harry,” she cooed, touched by... well, everything. Everything he’d done. Everything he was. “You- I couldn’t...” Instead of any of the thousand things that she actually wanted to say, what came out was, “We missed the 24 hour deadline.”  
  
Technically she was right, even if it was only by a few minutes, and Harry released a sound that was somewhere between laughing and crying. This girl… was seriously making jokes right now? “I won’t tell if you don’t.”  
  
“Does somebody want to cut the cord?” Dr. Langford asked, looking up from where she was still working from the end of the bed.  
  
Maya quirked an eyebrow at Harry.  
  
“Me?” He wasn’t sure whether to be excited or terrified at the idea.  
  
She smirked, turning her attention back to the girl, who had quieted and stilled after a few minutes of skin-to-skin contact with the woman she already recognizes as ‘mama’. “How many people get to say they got their umbilical cord cut by Harry Styles?”  
  
Harry coughed and cleared his throat, running a nervous hand through his hair before taking the odd scissors the nurse was holding out to him.  
  
“You would definitely be the first.”  
  
  
**8:14am**  
  
When Maya woke up, the sun was streaming through the window. Her body ached in places she didn’t even know existed, but she felt better than she had in a long time - in ways that went beyond physical. Content and at peace.  
  
A quick scan of the room revealed that the bedside cot that should have held her baby was glaringly empty. After only a moment of sheer panic, she found that Harry was in the room. His back was to her, but his body was rocking back and forth in a rhythmic up and down motion, soft words falling from his lips in time with his movements.  
  
He was singing to her.  
  
When he reached the chorus, he spun around in a dramatic circle and, as she’d expected, revealed that her daughter was safely nestled in the crook of his arm.  
  
So focused was he on her face that he didn’t yet realize that Maya had woken up.  
  
“You’re still here.”  
  
Harry’s eyes snapped to hers and a guilty look crossed his face, followed quickly by one of uncertainty. “Yeah, I’m- is that, um, is that okay?”  
  
“Of course. If you, you know, if you want to. You-“  
  
“If you say I’ve already done too much one more time, I’m going to have to fire you before you’re even technically hired.” She looked bewildered at the statement, but they could discuss the details later. “Someone’s been waiting to say hi to you.”  
  
Harry swayed slowly over to the bed and leaned down to place the newborn in her arms. There was the slightest hesitation in his release - he was already enamored with the girl and therefore reluctant to let her go - but was rewarded with more happy tears and soft cooing sounds from mama.  
  
She wasn’t sure she would ever get used to this. “Oh. Oh, baby. My sweet little Amelia. I forgot how beautiful you are. So perfect.”  
  
Harry couldn’t disagree. He could have been happy watching the two of them together like this for the rest of his life... and was quite afraid he might do just that if he stayed another minute. “I should, uh, probably get going, yeah? Let you two get to know each other for a bit?”  
  
“Harry-“ She grabbed his wrist just as he turned to leave. He raised his eyebrows in question when she didn’t continue right away. “Does your offer still stand?” she asked hesitantly. When he cocked his head in confusion, she licked her lips nervously and explained. “To, um, stay. With me.”  
  
He grinned then, understanding finally flickering behind his eyes. “Are you asking me to stay with you?” he teased. She bit her lip, nodding but choosing to continue to stare down at her daughter rather than look him in the eye. He sat down on the edge of the bed, resting a hand gently around the little girl’s knit-capped head. “I’ll stay for as long as you want me here.”  
  
There was something definitive in his tone - a promise that went beyond the next few minutes, hours. When she looked up, his dimpled smile was shining full force on her and she couldn’t help but reach out and cup his cheek.  
  
Neither were sure who initiated the move - whether Harry leaned down first or Maya pulled him in close - but in a moment his lips were on hers.  
  
The moment all three of them connected together, things finally felt right. And she started to think that she just might ask him to stay forever.  
  
And Harry always kept his promises.


End file.
